We Love You So – Where The Wild Things Are – Spike Jonze

The greatest trick the internet ever pulled was convincing the world it didn’t exist. Just kidding. The greatest trick the internet actually pulled was turning itself into a machine for fine-grained aggregating. If the word “curate” wasn’t already abused to death, we’d say that the internet facilitates the kind of link-curating that allows us to absorb the best news/music/fashion/whatever just by clicking around to a few faithful aggregators.

Among these is an ambitious project collapsing, which assembles images from around the net that have only their visual peculiarity and resonance in common. Among the works on view: Joan Crawford in a sweater that her husband doodled on, crepe paper masks, LPs from West Africa, old photographs of immigrants and hobo whittlers, needlepoint pillows, sinister puppets, chairs, backpacks, and what looks like an image from a family photo circa 1984.

If you like surprises and virtuosity, this is the aggregator for you!

Ephemera Assemblyman is exactly what it sounds like and four times as cool. Curated by a twenty-six year old Californian named Joel, the website is a repository of well-chosen, odd and beautiful images images posted with tidbits of information designed to tease out their subtleties.

What sort of image, you ask? The kind of image that looks like it emerged from between the pages of a university library book that hasn’t been checked out in sixty years and stands gathering dust in the stacks. Or maybe the kind of image dug up in a box in the attic, or acquired on eBay or…who knows? That’s sort of the point. Joel excavates the images so that you don’t have to.

Among the best include illustrations from The Annotated Dracula, the collages of Wilfried “Sätty” Podriech, Slovenian film posters (above), theater posters, hypnotist posters, avant-garde stationary, and Russian Revolutionary periodicals. But honestly, you could spend hours tooling around the site. Be a pal and share it with your friends.

Let’s take a micro-journey to antiquity and learn about the art form known as Madhubani, shall we?

Madhubani paintings are a traditional Indian form that possibly originated at the time of the Ramayana (”madhubani” means “forests of honey”). Visually speaking, the paintings are composed of two-dimensional images painted with plant-derived pigments, and they often depict Hindu religious themes, although not always (animals and geometric abstractions also figure in).

For examples of the form, look no further than A Journey Round My Skull, a blog in which Will has compiled, among myriad other items, a solid compilation of Madhubani paintings by Ganga Devi. Most of the images are available only in hard-to-find books or at the Crafts Museum in New Delhi, so this might be your only chance to check them out. Luckily, Will is a master scanner. The images are best when viewed up close, so click away.

Ana Benaroya is a woman of many talents. First, there’s the incredible skateboard she designed for Furni Skateboards (above). Look at that thing! It would almost be a crime to commit it to noodle flips and switch 360 booger grinds, or whatever skaters do these days. That board belongs on a wall with some sort of security mechanism to prevent people from stealing it.

Other elements of Benaroya’s prodigious portfolio include sweet posters, a Moleskine diary of her travels in Spain, awesome screenprints, and so much more (feast your eyes on the hand-painted Converse hi-tops!)

Best of all, Benaroya’s hobbies include being a decent human being and accessorizing a wide variety of foods with hot sauce. We love her so.

There’s nothing like the bone-dry humor of a born and bred Englishman to bring a smile to the frowniest face. For an exemplar of such look no further than Monsieur Cabinet, the Leeds-based illustrator, designer, and producer of brilliant little line-drawings that combine a P.G. Wodehouse wit with a spare and expressive hand.

Cabinet’s drawings may remind you of Glen Baxter’s irreverent and gut-busting illustrations, but they’re really a whole other kettle of fish. Explore the variety—along with his zines and design projects—here.

Pop quiz. What’s fuzzy, warm, and reminds you equally of your dad and gorillas?

Anwswer: beards. Only a select percentage of the population (hairy men) can grow these timeless facial accessories, but the rest of us can participate in the fun by downloading this awesome BEARD FONT.

It is surprisingly subtle.

Lucy and Bart is a collaboration between Lucy McRae and Bart Hess, both Netherlands-dwellers with a shared interest in pushing the boundaries of art, fashion, and that nebulous area where the two meet.

McRae was trained as a classical ballerina and architect, so her interest in the human body is one with a precedent. Hess, for his part, maintains that he’s a better storyteller with visuals than with words, and has a fascination with robotics and imaginary animals. Together, the two “work in a primitive and limitless way creating future human shapes, blindly discovering low – tech prosthetic ways for human enhancement.”

Their manipulations of the human form (via costume and digital voodoo) are eerie and beautiful in equal doses. Also occasionally grotesque––but never less than perfectly executed.

It’s the trope that never dies. Humans are eternally stoked to find that things aren’t what they seem. Trompe-l’œil is appealing in any format, whether it be 17th century Viennese frescoes, t-shirts printed to look like tuxedos, meatloaf designed to look like birthday cake or candles crafted to resemble sushi.*

What happens when you combine eye-trickery with wit and a nod to sustainable design? Strictly 21-st century inventions like the We Are Happy To Serve You cup (above left), a no-nonsense ceramic vessel that replicates the classic NYC deli cup.

Unlike the disposable originals, the faux-cup has a solid weight to it, and it’s fun to register the surprise when you hand it to a friend who expects the flimsy paper original.

On a similar tip there’s also MoMA’s tote bag (above right), a sturdy item designed to look exactly like Charles Stillwell’s Flat Bottomed Brown Paper Grocery Bag, which he patented in 1883. Up close MoMA’s bag is made of synthetic material, but from afar it looks like an oddly supple grocery bag. Carry it as your own personal secret–an illusion to reveal to the chosen few.

*We’re using a loose definition of trompe-l’œil, here. You know what we mean.

Flashback. Remember when your mom made dinner and it was something gross? And you were all, “I don’t like tuna casserole.” And she was all, “Tough bananas. If you don’t like it, how ’bout YOU cook dinner?”

This line of logic is frustrating to young children but imminently satisfying to older ones. After all, we don’t exactly have the skills to fend for ourselves at a young age. But once you grow up and figure out how to make your way, doing things yourself is often the best way to get them done right.

Bon Bon Kakku takes the concept and turns it into a community. The site encourages visitors to design their own fabrics for viewers to see and vote for. If the fabric is popular enough, it will be manufactured and sold on the website.

The cherry on the sundae is that the available designs are really good. It’s enough to reinvigorate your belief in the merits of crowdsourcing. And in the case that you’re not super keen on any of the designs, you can always submit your own. “If you have never found nice fabrics to buy,” the website asks, “why don’t you design them yourself?”

Well, why not?

Always With Honor is a design collective “specializing in map, icon, and information design.” Their honorable mission is to create work that “helps break down complex information into simple (and fun) designs that are easily understood an enjoyed.” In practice, this comes off like a clever mixture of Ikea, behavioral engineering and fine art.

Projects have included a visual breakdown of the Obama’s vegetable garden, a graphic essay of Supreme Court nomination facts and a map highlighting the world’s most unusual travel destinations. The collective’s aesthetic is bright, colorful, economical and profoundly expressive. To pore over an Always With Honor project is to revel in all the stimulating parts of learning without any of the struggle.

Good deal!